This Independent Scientist Award (K02) application is based on the applicant's recently funded NIH R01 award from NIDCR (DE 017205) for the years of 2006-2010. The parental R01 award entitled "Role of TFII-I in Craniofacial Development" addresses the function of the TFII-I transcription factor in orofacial development. The proposed research presented in the "Research Plan" section of this K02 application does not have significant changes compared with the studies proposed in the original R01 application, except that some progress made since then is incorporated in the preliminary data section of this application. The research approaches and experimental design proposed in the original R01 application are largely based on the applicant's scientific training and expertise in mouse genetics and molecular biology. The applicant fully realizes the importance of multi-discipline in conducting competitive and high quality research, which is essential for a successful scientific career. Therefore, the applicant plans to acquire additional expertise and learn new systems to promote the original proposal to a higher level and extent the principal investigator's scientific expertise in functional screening, protein biochemistry and proteomics, and systems biology. The details and rationale are described in the following section of the candidate's "career developmental plan".